Paul was born in Emmett, Idaho, on August 27, 1979. His parents were Robert and Darla Sturtevant; his father was a Baptist minister. He also has three older siblings. Born a month premature in his parents' bathroom, Paul has English, German, and Scottish ancestry. In the eighth grade, he realized he wanted to become an actor. He attended Centennial High School in Boise, graduating in 1998. After graduation, Paul drove to Los Angeles in his old car with only his mother and $6,000 in savings. During the beginning stages of his acting career, Paul appeared on an episode of The Price Is Right on January 3, 2000, in which he played one pricing game and overbid by $132 on the Showcase. Paul also worked as a movie theater usher at Universal Studios in Hollywood during that period of time.

Paul began his acting career with roles in several music videos and guest-star roles in a number of TV series. He made his television debut in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, which was followed by an appearance in Melrose Place. On the big screen, Paul portrayed the estranged son of Jeff Bridges in K-PAX, and Tom Cruise's brother-in-law in Mission: Impossible III. He also had a minor role in the film The Last House on the Left.

He later portrayed his breakthrough role, Jesse Pinkman in the AMC-produced series Breaking Bad. The character was only supposed to last for one season, but series creator Vince Gilligan changed his mind due to Paul's chemistry with the series' lead actor Bryan Cranston. For the performance, he won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for this role in 2010, 2012, and 2014; he was the only actor to win awards in that category three times since its separation into the genres of drama and comedy.

In his personal life, in 2001, Paul dated Samaire Armstrong, with whom he had worked on The X-Files earlier that year, though the relationship was short-lived. From March 2009 to April 2010, he dated Jessica Lowndes, though the relationship ended as well. Paul finally became engaged to Lauren Parsekian in Paris, France, on January 1, 2012. The two previously met at the Coachella Music Festival held in Indio, California. They were married on May 26, 2013, in Malibu, California. In 2013, Paul and Parsekian helped raise $1.8 million for the Kind Campaign, a non-profit anti-bullying organization, with the winners of the contest winning a trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which was screening the final episode of Breaking Bad. During a ceremony at Boise's Egyptian Theatre, Idaho Governor Butch Otter declared October 1 "Aaron Paul Sturtevant Day".